1 dead in snowy turnpike crash, roadway reopens in Philadelphia Pennsylvania

A large storm brought heavy snow to parts of Pennsylvania on Sunday, wreaking havoc on the turnpike, contributing to at least one traffic fatality and covering the fields of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles in white.A motorist who got out of his car after a minor crash on the turnpike near Morgantown was struck and killed, and about 50 cars behind him were involved in a series of fender-benders that closed westbound lanes for seven hours as snow fell, according to turnpike spokesman Carl DeFebo.The turnpike reported several other crashes that snarled stretches of the toll road Sunday. Traffic on sections of Interstate 95 in and around Philadelphia was at a standstill most of Sunday afternoon due to accidents and slippery conditions. Cars along the length of the interstate from the Delaware to the New Jersey state lines moved at a crawl most of the afternoon.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said 25 vehicles were involved in a crash Sunday evening on Interstate 78 in Berks County that halted traffic for more than an hour in the westbound lanes. State police said there were multiple minor crashes that tied up the roadway.The snow fell so heavily in Philadelphia that yard markers at Lincoln Financial Field - where the Eagles beat the Detroit Lions - were completely obscured. It was almost as bad in Pittsburgh, where the snow intensified after opening kickoff.Workers in both stadiums used hand-held snow blowers, to little effect.Eagles coach Chip Kelly said his players embraced the elements.They really enjoyed it," Kelly said after the Eagles beat the Detroit Lions 34-20. "They had a lot of fun. They kind of probably went back to when they were little kids running around out there. It was interesting for me just to see how these guys were excited about playing in it."Philadelphia fan Dave Hamilton, of Ivyland, layered up for the game, wearing an Eagles shirt topped with an Eagles sweatshirt and Eagles winter coat.
"Twenty-seven years I've been a season-ticket holder, I've never seen snow at the game like this," he said. "It just kept coming down. But we are all having fun out there."Other parts of the state were expected to get 1 to 3 inches before a changeover to sleet and freezing rain later Sunday into Monday morning. Ice accumulations were expected to range from a trace to up to two-tenths of an inch, according to the weather service.Paul Jones, 24, a youth hockey coach from Warminster in the Philadelphia suburbs, was on his way to a game in Lancaster when he got stuck - along with his fiance, another coach and three players - in a major backup on the turnpike.The roadway was "snow-covered, slick," Jones said in an interview from the car, where he was a passenger and had been at a standstill for more than an hour.People are in and out" of their vehicles, he said. "Kids are having a snowball fight on the side of the road, making snow angels, people are walking their dogs."